Clothes washing machine having drain pump system



CLOTHES WASHING MACHINE HAVING DRAIN PUMP SYSTEM James M. Pinder, North Canton, 7 Ohio, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed July 19, 1960, Ser. No. 43,868 3 Claims. or. 68-18) This invention relates to automatic" clothes washing machines, and more particularly to admin pump system for washing machines of the type having aperforated clothes receptacle rotatably mounted within an imperforate liquid receptacle.

A highly effective way of obtaining the desired operations of washing and cen'trifugingin an automatic clothes washing machine has been found to lie in the use of: a reversible motor connected to theother parts of the to remove water from the machine, and when the motorrotates in the other direction the pump is'cause'd to tend to force fluid toward the machine. This type of structure permits the elimination of all valves associated with the drain pump, and also permits the provision of other pumps on the same shaft which operates the drain pump: for instance, many present day washing machines include a recirculation system which is'inten'ded to be effective during washing and rinsing-therefore, a highly desirable arrangement is one wherein the rotation of the pump actuating shaft in one direction causes draining out of.-

the liquid by one pump, and'rotation in the other direction causes recirculation of the liquid by another pump. While the various components briefly set forth above provide a highly effective machine, it' has been found that the action of the drain pump in pumping fluid toward the machine during washing and rinsing may have the effect of causing air to be pulle'din-by the pump and forced up into the liquid'receptacle and the clothes receptacle in the form of air' bubbles. This in turn causes an undesirably high generation'of suds during the washing operation as a result of the high sudsingdetergents and soaps which are'frequently used byhousewives for washing operations in such machines.

It is therefore an object of my in'ven'tiontoprovide a structure including the above-mentioned components in which the reverse operation" of the pump will retain liquid in the liquid receptacle by the pressure resulting from its pumping without, however; causing air'to escape up into the liquid receptacle so as to causegeneration-of excessive suds.

In' one aspect of'my invention, I provide a clothes washing machine havingFa'rotatably mounted perforated clothes receptacle with suitable meansfor effecting movement of clothes and liquid in the clothes receptacle. An

imperforate liquid receptacle surrounds the clothes recep tacle so as to retain liquid within the clothes receptacle:

for-washing and rinsing'operations; In -the-bottom of the liquid receptacle is a drain opening formed so-that:

2,983,130 Patented May 9, Hi6] during spinning operations the liquid may be drained out from the receptacles through the opening. A reversible rotary pump is provided with first and second openings: in one direction of operation the pump draws in fluid through the first opening and discharges it through the second opening, and for the other direction of operation the pump draws in fluid through the second opening and discharges it through the first opening. The clothes receptacle, the movement effecting means, and the pump are all powered by a common reversible drive motor. lnone direction of motor operation, the pump operates in one direction and the movement effecting means is operated, and in the other direction of operation of the motor the pump rotates in the opposite direction and the clothes receptacle is rotated at a centrifuging or spin speed. The first pump opening is connected to first conduit means which in turn is adapted to discharge from its other end through an air gap into a drain. Second conduit means are provided so as to be connected at one end to the second opening and at the other end to the drain opening in the liquid receptacle.

As an important feature of my invention, I cause the second conduit means to beformed so as to have a section but in addition air is prevented from passing into the receptacles by the dip in the second conduit means, and therefore cannot cause generation of excessivesuds.

The subject matter which I regard as my invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of this specification. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and method of operation maybest be understood by reference to the; following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing, the single figure is a side elevational viewof a clothes washing machine including my inven tion, the view being partially broken away and partially in section to illustrate details.

Referring now to the drawing, I have shown therein an agitator-type vertical-axis clothes washing machine 1; having aconventional basket or clothes receptacle 2 perforated over its side and bottom walls with perforations*3 and positioned within an outer imperforate tub or liquid receptacle'4 so that when liquid is retained within tub 4 it will, through perforations 3, also rise to the-same level in basket 2 as in tub 4. Basket 2 may also he provided with a suitable clothes retaining member 4a-for preventing clothes from being floated over the topof the basket, and with a balance ring 411 to help steady the basket when (as Will be explained) it is rotated at high speed Tub 4 is rigidly mounted within an appearance cabinet 5 which includes a cover 6 hingedly mounted in thetop portion 7 of the cabinet for providing access through an opening 8 to the basket '2. As'shown, a gasket'9 may be provided so as to form a seal between the 'top of tub 4 and portions 7 of the cabinet thereby to prevent escape of moisture and moist air into the cabinet around the tub. The mounting of tub 4'within the cabinet '5 may be effected by any suitable means. ,As a typical example of one such means I have provided strap members 10'each of which is'secured at one end to ,an intumed' flange 11 of the cabinet and at its other endto the outside of tub 4. At the center of basket 2 there is positioned a vertical axis agitator 12 which includes a center post 13 and a plurality of curved water-circulating vanes-14 joined at their lower ends by an outwardly flared skirt 15.

Boththe clothes'basket and the agitator 2 are rotatablyt mounted. The basket is mounted on a flange 16 of a rotatable hub 17 and the agitator 12 is mounted on a shaft (not shown) which extends upwardly through the hub 16 and through the center post 13 and is secured to the agitator so as to drive it. 'During the cycle of Following this extraction operation, a supply of clean liquid is introduced into the basket for rinsing the clothes and the agitator is again oscillated. Finally, the basket isonc'e more rotated at high speed to extract rinse water. There are many variations on this relatively basic sequence which may be provided, such as, for instance, additional rinses, or a pause during the first spin (sometimes provided to helpprevent suds-locking of'the machine). However, the sequence described is a typical one for suchmachines;

The basket 2 and agitator 12 may be driven through any suitable means from a reversing motor as the transmission means forms no part of the present invention. However, by way of example, I have shown them as driven from a reversible motor 18 through a drive including a clutch 19 mounted on the'motor shaft. The clutch allows the motor to start without a load and then accept the load as it comes up to speed. A suitable belt 20 transmits power to a transmission assembly 21'through a pulley 22. -'Ihus, depending upon the direction of motor rotation, pulley 22 of transmission 21 is driven in opposite directions.

Transmission clutch 19 may also be a two-speed clutch, so as to provide for various operating speeds of the machine, and in this connection a solenoid member 23 having a plunger 24 which operates a control member 25 through a spring 26 is provided in order to achieve the two-speed operation. Specifically, in the illustrated machine, when solenoid 23 is de-energized clutch 19 provides a direct drive'between motor 18 and pulley 22, and when solenoid 23 is energized clutch 19 provides a. reduced speed drive to pulley 22. A two-speed clutch of this type, particularly suited for use in the illustrated machine, is described in detail and claimed in Patent 2,869,699, issued to John Bochan on January 20, 1959,. and assigned to General Electric Company, assignee of the present invention.

The transmission 21 is so arranged that it supports and drives both the agitator drive shaft and the basket mounting hub 17. When motor 18 is rotated in ione direction the transmission causes agitator 12 to oscillate in a substantially horizontal plane within "the basket 2. Conversely; when motor 18 is driven in the opposite direction, the transmission rotates the wash basket 2 and agitator 12 together 'at high speed for centrifugal liquid extraction. While the drive mechanism forms no part of the invention, reference is made to Patent 2,844,255, issued to James R. Hubbard et al. on July 22, 1958, and owned by the General Electric Company, assignee of the present invention. That patent discloses in detail the structural characteristics of a transmission assembly suitable for use inthe illustrated machine.

In addition to operating the transmission 21, as described, motor 18 also provides a direct'drive through a flexible coupling 27 to a pump structure generally indicated at 28 which includes two'separate' pumps 29 and 30 both operated simultaneously in the same direction by motor 18. Pump 29 has a first opening 31 and a' second opening 32, and pump 30 has a first opening 33 and a second opening 34. Both pumps are of the reversible type, such as for instance turbine-type or vortex pumps. In other words, for one direction of rotation :of motor 18 pump 28 will draw in fluid through opening 31 and discharge it through opening 32 and pump 30- will drawaeaa ao in fluid through opening 33 and discharge it through opening 34. For the other direction of rotation, pump 28 will draw in fluid through opening 32 and discharge it through opening 31, and pump 30 will draw in fluid through opening 34 and discharge it through opening 33.

Opening 33 is connected through a conduit 35 to an opening 36 provided at a relatively low level on the side of tub 4, and opening 34 is connected to a conduit 37 which terminates in a nozzle 38 positioned to discharge into a filterpan 39 secured on the top portion 40 of agitator 12 so as to be movable therewith. With this structure, then, when the motor is rotating in the first mentioned direction, pump 30 draws liquid from opening 36 in the side of tub 4 andv discharges it through conduit 37 so that the liquid passes from opening 38 through filter pan 39 and then down through a number of small openings 41 provided in the bottom of the filter pan back into basket 2. In this manner, the filter pan 39 with its small openings 41 and its upstanding side wall 42 causes lint which is separatedlfrom the clothes during the washingoperation to be filtered out of the water and thus prevents it from being re-deposited on the clothes. This type of structure is more fully described and claimed in Patent 2,481,979, issued to Russell H. Colley on September .13, 1949, and assigned to General Electric Company, owner of the present invention.

The opening 31 of pump 28 is connected to a drain conduit 43 which terminates in an outlet 44 positioned so as to discharge liquid through a suitable air gap into a receptacle schematically indicated at 45 leading to a suitable drain system (not shown). The other opening 32 of pump 29 is connected to end 46 of a conduit 47 whose other end 48 communicates with an opening 49 formed in the bottom of tub 4. It is to be noted, as a most im-' portant part of my invention, that conduit 47 includes a section which dips below the level of either opening 32 or drain opening 49 of tub 4, and whose function will be explained hereafter. It will readily be seen that, for the second mentioned direction of rotation of motor 18, fluid will be drawn in through opening 32 of the pump 29 from tub 4 and will be discharged through drain hose 43 to the drain 45.

The motor 18, transmission 21, basket 2 and agitator 12 from a suspended system which is suspended from the stationary structure of the machine so as to permit isolation of vibrations from the stationary structure; it will be understood that such vibrations occur primarily as a result of high speed spinning of basket 2 with a load of clothes therein as mentioned above. While any suitable suspension structure may be used, I prefer to use a suspension structure which includes a bracket member 51 which has transmission 21 mounted on top thereof and motor 18 mounted to the underside thereof, the

' Bochan and assigned to General ElectricCompany, as-

signee'of the present invention. Such a suspension system provides for flexible support of the 'motor, transmission, agitatorand basket so as to isolate the vibrations in that system from the casing of themachine.

. In order to accommodate therelative movement which occurs between basket 2 andtub 4 without any danger of leakage of liquid between them, the stationary tub 4 is joined to the upper partoftransmission 21 by a suitable flexible boot member 54. Boot 54 may be of any suitable configuration, many of which are known in the art, to permit relative motion of the: parts to which it iS-joined without leakage therebetween.

Completing now the' description of the machine 1 for illustrative purposes, hot and cold water may be supplied to the machine through conduits 55 and 56 which are adapted to be connected respectively to sources of hot and cold water (not shown). Conduits 55 and 56 extend into a conventional mixing valve structure 57 having solenoids 58 and 59 so that energization of solenoid 58 permits passage of hot water through the valve to hose 60, energization of solenoid 59 permits passage of cold water through the valve, and energization of both solenoids permits mixing of the hot and cold water in the valve and passage of warm water into hose 60. Hose 60 communicates with a nozzle 61 positioned to discharge into basket 2 so that when one or both of the solenoids 58 and 59 are energized water enters into the basket 2 and tub 4.

The level to which the water rises in the basket and tub may be controlled by any suitable means. One typical means of doing this'is to provide an opening 62 in the side of tub 4 adjacent the bottom thereof, the opening 62 being connected through a conduit 63 and a tube 64 to a conventional pressure sensitive mechanism (not shown) which may be positioned within the backsplasher 65 of the machine. In the conventional manner, as the water rises in basket 2 and tub 4, it exerts increasing pressure on a column of air trapped in tube 64, and at a predetermined pressure level the column of air then trips the pressure sensitive mechanism to shut oil whichever of solenoids 58 and 59 may be energized. The backsplasher 65 may have suitable manual controls such as that shown at 66 extending therefrom so that the particular type of cycle including washing and spin speed, water temperatures, water level within the tub 4 and basket 2, etc., may be controlled to eflect the washing of different types of fabrics. While many different control arrangements are well known and may be used, one specific suitable such arrangement is shown and described in application S.N. 627,821, filed by Wallace H. Hensaw, Jr., on December 12, 1956, now Patent No. 2,950,612, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

In operation, the control system intially causes the introduction of water as previously mentioned, with the level at which the water stops entering being determined by the level mechanism controlled through tube 64. When the inlet valve solenoids are de-energized to shut off the supply of water, the circuit to motor 18 is completed in such a way that rotation of the motor in a direction to effect oscillation of agitator 12 results, while at the same time the rotation is in the direction to cause fluid to tend to be passed in pump 29 from opening 31 to opening 32 and in pump 30 from opening 33 to opening 34. The rotation of pump 29 is effective to prevent liquid -from escaping out through drain opening 49 in the bottom of tub 4. In effect, air will be pumped by the pump 29 toward opening 49 because the open end 44 of drain hose 43 is open to atmosphere. While the pumping efiect is sufiicient to prevent liquid from passing out of the tub 4, the head of liquid in tub 4 combined with the dip 50 in conduit 47 have been found to be highly effective in preventing any entry of air from opening 31 through conduit 47 into tub 4 as a result of the pumping action.

It was found by experimentation that without this dip a substantial amount of air would pass up into the tub 4 from conduit 47, and [that a large quantity of suds would be generated resulting sometimes in poor operation of the machine, impairment of the spinning of the machine because of suds-locking effects, and general deterioration of the parts. However, by the elimination of the escape of air into tub 4 as a result of the provision of dip 50, the air has been completely prevented from passing into the tub and basket and the highly desirable washing effects obtained from the general construction shown with the effective operation resulting from the use of a reversible motor is provided without any adverse efiects.

During this time, the rotation oi pump 30 is causing liquid to be passed into the pump from opening 36 in tub 4 and then up through conduit 37 so as to undergo the aforementioned filtering operation. This action continues until the end of the Washing operation is reached, at which time the basket 2 and the agitator 12 are spun at high speed together by reversing the direction of rotation of motor 18. As a result of this, the pump 29 then draws the liquid being removed from the clothes down through opening 49 and conduit 47 into the pump and then out through drain hose 43 to drain. At the same time, of course, the pump 30 also has its direction of rotation reversed but this is without any substantial efiect since the only result will be the drawing in of air through nozzle 38 and the discharge of this air into the tub through opening 36. In view of the fact that the water is swiftly being removed from the tub and basket at this point, this has-virtually no effect on the amount of suds in the machine.

The operation is completed by a substantial repetition of the aforementioned two operations, with the introduction of a fresh supply of water being provided until the desired level is reached, agitation then being provided and the final spin terminating the sequence.

By the provision of the particular formation of conduit 47 and the relationship of the conduit to openings 32 and 49 at its ends, it has been made possible to eliminate valves and the like and to retain Water in the machine during washing and rinsing operations without, however, any escape of air into the machine so as to cause undesirable suds generation during the washing operation when detergent is present in the machine.

While in accordance with the patent statutes I have described what at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and I therefore aim in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A clothes washing machine comprising: a rotatably mounted perforated clothes receptacle; means for effecting movement of clothes and liquid in said clothes receptacle; an irnperforate liquid receptacle substantially surrounding said clothes receptacle so as to retain liquid within said clothes receptacle, said liquid receptacle having -a drain opening formed in the bottom thereof; a reversible rotary pump having first and second openings, said pump drawing in fiuid through said first opening and discharging it through said second opening when rotated in one direction, said pump drawing in fluid through said second opening and discharging it through said first opening when rotated in the opposite direction; a common reversible drive motor for said pump, said clothes receptacle, and said movement eifecting means, operation of said motor in a first direction rotating said pump in said one direction and operating said movementefiecting means, operation of said motor in a second opposite direction rotating said pump in said opposite direction and rotating said clothes receptacle at a centrifuging speed; first conduit means connected at one end to said first pump opening and adapted to discharge from its other end through an air gap into a drain; and second conduit means connected at one end to said second opening and at its other end to said drain opening, said second conduit means being formed with a section intermediate its ends lower than either of its ends. 7

2. A clothes washing machine comprising: a rotatably mounted perforated clothes receptacle; mean for efiecting movement of clothes and liquid in said clothes receptable; an imperforate liquid receptacle substantially surrounding said clothes receptable so as to retain liquid within said clothes receptacle, said liquid receptable having a drain opening formed in the bottom thereof and a recirculation opening formed therein; a reversible rotary pump structure including first and second pumps secured to operate together, each said pump having first and second openings, each of said pumps drawing in fluid through its first opening and discharging it through its second opening when rotated in one direction, each of said pumps drawing influid through its second opening and discharging it throughits first opening when rotated in the opposite direction; a common reversible drive motor for said pump's, said clothes receptacle, and said movement-effecting means, operation of said motor in a first direction rotating said pumps in said one direction and operating said movement-eifecting means, operation of said motor in a second opposite direction rotating said pumps in said opposite direction and rotating said clothes receptacle at a centrifuging speed; first conduit a means connected at one end to said first opening of said first pump and adapted to discharge from its other end 20 2,894,384

through an air gap into a drain; second conduit means connected at one end to said second opening of said first to discharge into the top of said clothes receptacle; and filtering means positioned to filter liquid passed through said fourth'conduit means.

3. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein said,

clothes receptacle is mounted for rotation on a substantially vertical axis, and said movement-effecting means comprises an agitator member extending clothes receptacle and movable therewithin.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Smith July 14, 1959 2,924,959 Israel Feb. 16, 1960 2,942,446 Platt et a1. June 28, 1960 up into said 

